Miami University - Recensio Yearbook (Oxford, OH)

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mcosoozoo 30on bauozaD MEEE 2530230 30on basicD NEE: town Oxford at the turn of the century. m up M ercban ts I brought hundreds of people from the m of. X 0 H W 0 m w .md mm .15 Ya 16 Hr. .Ja of. mm d NH ww Fn Aw 1 War Days in Civ1 West Park 828280 Eooqm bmmugED Emmi Nineteen

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M1am1 Umversrty Special Collections Gazebo in East Park. A MARK OF THE TIMES iamiis campus and surrounding township is a region where tradition prevails within the guise of change. The past two centuries have brought tremendous growth to the untamed Oxford of 1781. The campus has also expanded from the three original buildings to over 100. Despite the progress and development of the past 200 years, the thoughts and dreams of todayis students still reflect those of the earliest university days. It all started one day in March, in the year 1810; a five-member group hacked and trampled its way through the wild forest and creeks of Butler County carrying with them the ancient academic name of Oxford. They chose the sight of the future college land. Among the deer and foxes along Four Mile Creek, they began to establish a university. This early Oxford was a frontier village for 500 residents. High Street was lined with mudholes in winter and ankle-deep dust in summer. The ladies of the day cascaded down High Street with their trailing skirts sweeping up the dirt of the sidewalks. Oxford then boasted of six stores, three taverns and a few other establishments for the ruddy pioneers. The muddy path leading diagonally to the cam- pus was the symbolic separation of the Oxford pio- neers and the eloquent college men. In November splitting or sawing wood in the building or defacing the furniture and walls. Those first students were all subjected to strict regulations by the faculty. The young men were required to attend chapel services every morning and expected to remain in their rooms during facul- ty regulated study hours. According to Virgil E. Davis in The Literary Societies in 801d Miamiii, they were iiforbidden to frequent any tavern, gro- cery or other place where intoxicating drink was sold? The concerned President Robert H. Bishop warned that students caught patronizing these places of 8cheating and dissipationii would be dis- missed and the names of the proprietors publicly circulated. Regardless, students did find escape from their rigorous studies and strict regulations. Every Fri- day afternoon, the voices of the Erodelphian Liter- ary Society and the Miami Union could be heard. These literary societies spent long hours in decla- mations, orations and debates within their third floor chambers in Old Main. With the organization of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity in 1835, the societies clashed and competed with the Greeks. These soci- eties slowly phased out as the Greek system grew. Fraternities, with their secret rituals and knightly vows, provided the ideal birthplace for many intri- cate, and highly successful, pranks and practical 1824, Miami opened its doors to twenty students. jokes. No doubt the most historic of all student The universityis academic building, Old Main, housed the chapel, a library and recitation rooms. Students were charged $93 for tuition and room and board for the first session in the dormitory, the northeast building. This future Elliott Hall was a three-story brick building that provided little more than iron stove heated rooms. The men furnished their own bed, chairs and table and were expected to buy or chop their own wood. Imaginative stu- dents relied on the hallls trim and woodwork as kindling. These incidents were so frequent that in 1835 the faculty was forced to fine any men caught escapades at Miami occurred in J anuary 1847 on a beautiful snowy evening. Coming home from a prayer meeting in town, a chap began rolling a snowball toward the dark doorway of the Old Main. Before the night was through, the boys had rolled a dozen huge snowballs into the building barricading the doors from the inside. The snowball rebellion, as it came to be known, decreased the junior and senior classes from 32 to 14, as the students found guilty for participation in the rebellion were quickly expeHed. Other pranks came to the highlight the later Eigb teen

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years of the 18005, one marking the beginning of Ohio State University. In 1867, Ohio laid plans for a state agricultural school. Miami with its spacious campus and Botanical Gardens seemed an attrac- tive site for such a college. A committee from Co- lumbus arrived to inspect the campus and their presence raised Miamiis hopes. To celebrate stu- dents filled the chapel with a haystack surrounded by a plow, two horses, a cow, pigs and ducks 9 all nibbling under a sign bearing llAgriculture Col- lege? Unfortunately, the committee did not find this prank amusing. Therefore, they chose Colum- bus as the sight forthe college and thus Ohio State University was born. Not all practical jokes ended so harmlessly. A tragic joke involved a one-horse vehicle known as 11The Arkfi used to transport The Western Female Seminary women to the village. One day as the Ark stood waiting outside the Presbyterian church, a reckless student unhitched the horse, painted it in zebra stripes, wrapped a curtain around its head and cut the whip. The frantic creature ran down High Street and was killed when it crashed into a passing train. The young women of Western Female Seminary and Oxford were not all found at the uptown churches. Lottie Moon was one a young lady who knew her way around the college men. Lottie Moon lived in Oxford with her parents in pre-civil war days. The promiscuous Lottie was accused of spy- ing and aiding abolitionists in freeing slaves through the Underground Railroad. One of her former lovers, a Confederate army officer, threat- ened to shoot Lottie if he caught her again. The Underground Railroad was rumored to have passed through Oxford in the basement of Enoch Haskellls hat factory. Escaped slaves hid in the cistern before being escorted to the next station. The Civil War not only divided the nation in 1861, but the university as well. Students dropped out to join the war, and Miamiis debts increased. In 1873, 801d Miamiil closed her doors. After the war, Oxford celebrated the opening of llNew Miamili with banners, parades and firecrack- ers. The attentions of Miami men returned to care- free pastimes. Activities welcoming the freshmen may have had. their roots with Oxfordls post-civil war 11apron and necktieil parties in 1888. A young man and woman were paired up for the evening by matching ties and aprons supplied by the hostess. Church bazaars were also a place for some early-day scoping. W.E. Smith, in his book Fair Oxford, revealed that 66young gentlemen turned out in great numbers to see the college girls who were sure to be there. At a church bazaar, college girls were as good as cold cash, anytime? In addition to swooning Oxford women, Miami college men had found other forms of entertain- ment. In the 1890s, hog shooting was a favorite amusement for students in the Northeast Dormito- ry. The boys resorted to lynching the wild hogs that infested the campus when stones and pistols proved futile. Cycling, driving and horseback riding were the latest fads, and by 1890 large numbers of men, women and children glided up and down the streets of Oxford every evening. Unfortunately, Oxford ministers condemned the blommers that the women cyclists wore. Tennis courts were erected on cam- pus in 1894 and in the same year Oxfordis first bowling alley was built. The turn of the century brought important changes to the university - no- Twen ty Miami University Special Collections